Friday, 8 January 2016

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, the Sun and the Gravity God we're fierce enemies to each other. One day they fought each other on a duel, and though they were equals both in size and strenght, the sun won; and then he broke the body of the Gravity God into little pieces and scattered them around the void.

As the years passed, the floating residues we're drawn to those pieces, wrapping them and thus creating the planets. Nobody knows how many planets there are, due to them being orbiting constantly around the sun in different distances and planar inclinations; and creating an useful map comprehending them is a futile task. The smallest habitable planets can barely fit a house; the biggest one, which also holds the biggest city known to man, is about the size of the real Earth's moon.

All those planets share the same atmosphere. There is air between them which can be breathed. There runs the wind and the clouds, alongside birds, people and even birds: if you're outside the gravitational pull of a planet, you can use friction to "swim" in zero gravity (artificial wings, crank-powered propellers or bird carriages are also popular) A traveler may go from planet to planet like that, if he manages to lift off from the departure planet. Jumping high enough may do the trick on very small planets; in greater ones you might need a rocket, a pole or jumping from a high tower specially built for that purpose. (Note that, even though the average surface gravity is roughly earth-like in every planet, the gravitational field radius is ridiculously small compared with ours, and always proportional to the planet's size). It is wise to carry a parachute or other means of cushioning when landing on a planet.

Due to this conditions, big interplanetary vehicles are extremely rare. There are, however, some land and sea vehicles on big planets where they can be useful. The other thing that exists only in bigger planets is true night; and even that isn't ever total darkness, as the light is reflected from the atmosphere behind the planet. However, the most further from the Sun is a planet, the darker and colder it is.

People around this universe practises martial arts, inspired, at least philosophically, in things they have closer: gravity, the Sun, birds, whales, etc. The most used weapons are slings, poles, nets or javelins, which are useful to hunt both on land and on zero gravity (you can send a slingstone really, really far in there, and shooting wrapped messages around a stone or a present is a feasible way of interplanetary communication)

In other ambits, technology levels are very different from a planet to other, as there is little trade or communication between the different lands. The same goes for religion, philosophy or other fields of knowledge. There are also certain old and strange wise men and women who study the movement of the spheres and can foresee which planets are gonna meet soon, or which directions to take to get to a specific place so one may travel there.

People on this lands strangely wage war due to the impossibility of worlds to be near the sufficient time; but figthing duels on single combat is a traditional way to settle disputes, just like the Sun and the Gravity God did. From time to time, martial arts fighters go traveling the world searching for ways to improve their strenght, searching for masters, foes and adventure, and maybe searching for the magic item _________ which can _____________ and is totally essential to fulfill the dream of ___________________ of one of the characters.

So this is my current thing I'm playing with in my head, which may turn into a game setting of a campaign someday. Is it any cool? I've been wanting to do some Kung-Fu / Ranma / early Dragon Ball / Steven Universe related thing for a long time, and this might be it.

It's a -kind of unfinished- game where the players are all thieves on the city of thieves, and they go around stealing things and playing heists. I like everything about this one; from the concept, the approach, the mechanics (On a hurry: roll 2d6 and assign one to achieve your goal -on a 1,2 you miss, on a 3 o 4 you succeed partially, on a 5,6 you succeed- and other die to avoid danger -on a 4,5 or 6 you do it, else you fail. Some traits may grant you more dice to roll). There is also a totally different sub-system for magic, (because all thieves have a little magic). The whole thing reminds me a lot about Lupin the 3rd, and Daredevil and Elektra for some reason. I've never played it yet, but I hope to do it someday.
There is a line that I liked specially, that goes somehow like this "When the heist is over, each player can say one thing that has changed forever on the city of thieves".

It changes the whole concept of the game, to a strange mix of rpg and boardgame played only with a french deck. Though it's very interesting and finely built, I think it might be a little overcomplicated. Maybe I'll try it or do a mix of both.

Sunday, 3 January 2016

Synthetyzing a bit more what I did on The Great Silence entry, with a more sword fantasy approach. I'm also hinting a treasure-based economy (you recover quantities of treasure, and must sell them to re-fill your bag once it's empty)

Roll
2d6 at the start: for
each result, you get +1 on the corresponding stat
(on a 5 or 6 you can choose a stat yourself). When you reach an even
level (2,4,6,8 or 10) you get a +1 on a random stat.

Toughness
(brawling, enduring physical harm, strenght feats)

Dexterity
(shooting, reflexes, anything regarding precision)

Eerieness
(force of will, raw charm, casting spells)

Wisdom
(general knowledge, insight and intuition)

Then
choose your starting class (warrior, wanderer or mystic) and
roll on your table for your starting ability. You start at level 1.
On every odd level (3,5,7 or 9) roll again for an extra ability of
your class. If you get something that you already had, roll in any
other class' table.

WARRIORS
start with their favored weapon and one from the list below:

1.
An ugly scar. +4 HP on every rest.

2.
A battle creed. +2 damage with your favored weapon.

3.
A seizing trance that grants you +2 armor when you fight, but you
risk acting foolishly.

WANDERERS
roll for their starting talent. It will let you attempt things that
are restricted to other people, and you can treat any relevant missed
roll like if it was a partial success.

1.
Thievery and stealth. You get a ring of lockpicks or a vial of
poison.

2.
Survival in the wilderness. You get some medicinal herbs or a
faithful pet (choose one)

3.
Potion brewing and medicine. You get a mysterious potion and a
medikit.

4.
Awareness and Insight. You get a harp (cast spells at hearing range)
or any ranged weapon

5.
Acrobacy and stunts. You get a grappling hook or any melee weapon.

6. Tinker and artifactry. You get a bag with your job's tools and a
chosen object you've got is customized (+1 damage, +1 armor or has an
extra utility; but needs resources, daily manteinance or has a side
effect)

WIZARDS
roll for a mystic power. You start with a walking cane (d6 damage two
handed, re-roll a spell roll once a day)

1.
Scry. You can attempt to discern things through yout
divination method (choose one: tarot cards, silent meditation,
watching the wind carry a handful of dust, etc). On a hit, you can
ask up to three questions to your GM (he will answer truthfully). You
can later spend the unasked questions to give +1 to any further roll
(describe how your insights helped you on the task)

2.
Tame. When you create an intimacy channel with a target (by
touching it, locking eyes, meditation or similar) you can attempt to
implant a subtle suggestion, fascinate or learn a secret from it.
This may work also on some objects like locks or candles, or in
forces like fire or the sea.

3.
Ward. You can attempt to lay a temporary protection over
something or someone. It acts as a shield against a chosen danger
(heat, unwanted attention, rain, mind control, intruders, etc) or
gives +1 armor in combat. You must take time writing the symbols to
achieve long-lasting effects.

4.
Mend. When you touch a target and call upon its inner force,
you can attempt to restore 1d6 HP, mitigate an ailment of body or
spirit, or temporarily fix a broken thing.

5.
Call. You know old rituals to summon supernatural and nature
spirits. On a hit, you can ask them to fulfill a simple mission
within their capabilities, do d6 damage, answer a question within
their knowledge or bring you a small object from beyond. On a 7-9,
spirits may ask you for favors themselves, claim a prize or escape
from your control.

6.
Bond. Your totem animal, element or force (describe it!) has
granted you a gift. Choose one between: Shapeshifting into a related
form at will (use eerie on all rolls when in that form); re-roll any
failed combat roll once a day using + eerie (describe how your totem
helped you) or the ability to summon it, with a +1 to it if you
have the Call spell.

You
start with a small bag of silver coins. It should cover cheap
things like a beer, a night at the inn, some ammunition or a candle.

Whenever
you buy a piece of gear (an axe, a bow...), roll 1d6. On a 6 you
can buy it, but if you do, you're out of money and must sell a
treasure to fill your bag again. When you buy expensive gear,
you're out of money on a 5 or a 6. More expensive things may require
you to pay one or more treasures.

WEAPONS
AND ARMOR

fists:
d6-2 damage.

daggers,
slings: d6 damage, easy to conceal.

axe,
bow: d6+1 damage.

longsword:
d6+1 damage, expensive, you can use Toughness or Dexterity.

two
handed sword, polearms, longbow: d6+2 damage.

shield:
+1 armor.

leather:
+1 armor.

chainmail:
+2 armor, expensive.

RESOLUTION
(is the common World of Dungeons/Pbta one, I just like it!)
Whenever you do anything risky, roll 2d6 and add the appropiate
trait.

On
a 12+ you succeed beyond expectation or gain an extra advantage.
In combat, you can also deal double damage or choose a second target.

On
a 10+ you succeed without much effort. In combat, deal damage. If
your attack is specially suited to the situation, you do double
damage.

On
a 7-9, you also suffer a cost or complication.

On
a 6 or less the threat comes true; GM will describe how. If you
survive, you get 1 XP. Every 10 XP you get a new level.

Some
examples of costs, complications and threats:

-suffer
an adequate debility

-GM
introduces a new danger

-expose
yourself or others to danger

-face
a difficult choice

-lose
some equipment

-you
suffer damage (1d6 for common hazards, 2d6 if the threat was overtly
dangerous)

-a
pending threat comes true

You
start the game with 2d6 Hit Points.

Whenever
you rest, you can re-roll your HP: roll 1d6 if you camp in harsh
conditions or 2d6 if you find a confortable place, like an inn. If
your result is lower than your current HP, discard it.

Should
damage take your HP to 0 or below, you can still roll to endure

(When
you must endure,
roll the highest of Toughness and Eerieeness. On
a 10+,
you can ignore your wounds, at least for now. On
a 7-9,
you stand, but suffer a debility or other complication. On
a miss,
you're as fucked as the situation demands)